I've kept diaries and journals since I was twelve years old and I've eaten up a lot of notebooks. From Bratz-themed journals to those coveted Moleskin journals, I've doodled them all.
However, as I grew older, I found it increasingly difficult to find time to jot down my thoughts in a physical journal, and between constant commutes to work and trips back home to my family in Zambia, I spent more and more time On trains and planes, I tend to leave a journal at home or lose it altogether. So, I decided to try Apple's new Journal app, because what's more convenient than having a digital notebook built into your phone?
The journal app rolled out to all iPhones with the new iOS 17 update, and the app acts as your digital journal, allowing you to incorporate images from your day, respond to thoughtful prompts, add music and people to your entries, and even incorporate your Apple Fitness Activities.
Getting to know my new diary
I started the week optimistic about journaling on the app, because it eliminated my main problem of having to carry my journal around in my bag all day. For the first day, I was very excited to make little entries about the music I was listening to, the fun things I was doing, or even just skimming through the auto-generated prompts to see if any caught my attention. Since I'm constantly scrolling through social media on my phone or playing mobile games anyway, I place the app at the top of my home page as a visual reminder to use it whenever I feel necessary.
The on-device Machine Learning Journal used to make suggestions unlocks a new level of deeper reflection that you would normally forget, based on the activities recorded on your phone throughout the day. Many might have doubts about implementing AI learning software within such a personal application, but this is a very superficial machine learning technology; You're not sharing your innermost thoughts with a ChatGPT derivative here.
I liked the collage suggestions she gave me, which prompted me to reflect on moments I honestly wouldn't have thought about if I had been using a physical journal. For example, I spent Monday at home, which would normally be pretty bleak for me, but the app showed a collage of all the cute photos I'd taken of my cat that day and stitched them together with the note “A Quiet Place.” Monday afternoon at home', which I appreciated. It made me think about how, even though my day was quite mundane, there was still an aspect of enjoyment that deserved to be documented.
maintaining a routine
This makes you feel like you have a digital scrapbook on your phone, giving you a nice record of things to remember as you keep adding entries. One of the coolest features I appreciated later in the week was the ability to add an entry for a day you missed on the actual day of the event, making everything seem chronological even if you missed a day or so. This was great for me…because by Wednesday I had completely forgotten about the app.
While the Journal has a lot of good features and is, by all indications, a pretty solid journal app, it's pretty forgettable. Honestly, even in my worst journaling weeks, I wrote more, or at least thought about writing more, when using a physical journal than I did with this app.
Even with notifications asking you to journal at specific times, I barely noticed them and ignored them very easily. When I opened the app and sat down to journal, I found it more of an inconvenience than a true act of reflection, and I found that with all the texting, scrolling, calling, and looking I was already doing on my phone, I Last thing I did What I wanted to do was open the phone again to reflect.
There is not enough space for all these thoughts.
Of course, not everyone will encounter the same problem, and the few friends I know use Journal use it more as a digital dump to make photo collages or set reminders than as an actual diary.
It can be said of any journaling app that the “fun” and reflection that comes with journaling is in the act of physically writing down one's thoughts, and at a time when I feel like I just can't escape technology ( yes, I know what I do), the last thing I want to do is use another application.
As the week progressed, I completely forgot that the app was even on my phone and on Thursday I hadn't written anything down. When I opened the app and looked for something to write down, I couldn't think of anything short enough to fill the space.
When I journal, I usually fill pages and pages and let my thoughts and feelings wash over the paper like water. When I use the Journal app, I feel like I'm clumsily composing a tweet (sorry Elon, I meant to write 'X post') that no one will read. I found it difficult to dwell on one of my phone entries because, to me, it doesn't seem like the right place.
Maybe people who bullet journal or normally write very short, concise entries don't feel as disconnected as I do, but as a writer with a lot to say, it felt strange to be sitting on my phone writing for years. Perhaps it's a symptom of our well-documented phone addiction today, but for now, I think I'll stick to pen and paper for my journaling needs.
